14th February 2015 So I just realised that I haven’t said anything about Madeira! The wine, not the island. And probably the original inspiration for coming here. For those who don’t know, Madeira is a style of fortified wine (so: related to sherry and port) only produced on the island of Madeira. It became very » » »
Archive for March, 2015
16 March 2015
Driving and walking and chestnuts
13th February 2015 More whacky weather. It was astonishingly clear this morning, so we deviated from our plan and drove back up to Pico do Arieiro, where we got magnificent vistas of the whole island in all directions, scarcely a cloud in the sky. Contrast with the soupy whiteness behind Maureen in the photo a » » »
16 March 2015
Still hiking
12th Feburary 2015 We’re still hiking. This morning’s hike was very beautiful, along a levada that runs high up on the southern flanks of the Paul de Serra, so a much more open and moorland landscape than the verdant forests most of our other levadas have meandered through. The hike then dropped down a long » » »
16 March 2015
Hotel breakfast, why?
11th February 2015 Bored with breakfast now. Why, when the guidebook says “Madeirans like to start the day with a short cup of coffee and a pastry,” does our hotel insist on bread, ham, cheese, eggs, fruit, carton juice and a big jug of insipid filter coffee? It’s not them, really. There’s an international standard » » »
16 March 2015
Changeable Madeira
10th February 2015 Really, England’s weather is consistent and predictable. I mean, let’s say you’re driving up a hill. When you get onto the other side of the hill, what will the weather be? The same, right? Drive up a hill on Madeira in golden sunshine with a few distant fluffy white clouds, and you » » »
16 March 2015
Levada in the mist
9th February 2015 We managed an early start, in spite of the cold, and drove up and up and up onto the Paul de Serra, the high plateau, to a place at the end of the road called Bica de Cana. There was bright sun and patchy cloud, but the thermometer in the car read » » »
16 March 2015
Mountains in the Atlantic
8th February 2015 We’ve got a first taste of Madeira’s changeable weather. Hopping in the car after breakfast, it was sunglasses and warmth, better turn the fan on cool ‘cos the car will be baking! Stopping at a viewpoint to gaze into thick, impenetrable mist in the afternoon it was back down to 7C and » » »
16 March 2015
Madeira and the weather is freezing
7th February 2015 We seem to be developing a habit of holidays starting on a bum note. Our flight on Norwegian Air (flying from the UK to Madeira… odd) arrived bang on time, but then the process of picking up a rental car was glacially slow. So it was past 7pm and dark when we » » »